Court-Approved Attorney Hourly Rates by District 2026: N.D. California Leads at $829

What hourly rates do federal courts approve in 2026?

A median of $500 an hour for partners, $369 for associates and $150 for paralegals, taking each district's median and then the middle district.

These are the rates federal judges approved on fee petitions between October 20, 2024 and October 20, 2026, from 1230 rulings. Each district below links to its own page with every ruling, the court's words, and rates by years of experience.

Median approved rate. A blank cell means fewer than 5 approved rates for that role. Statutory (EAJA) rates are left out.

Which federal districts approve the highest attorney rates?

N.D. California ($829), E.D. Pennsylvania ($750) and S.D. California ($713) approved the highest median partner rates, among the 18 districts with at least 10 approved partner rates.

High medians track the markets where big-firm and complex litigation concentrate, and the mix of cases each court saw. A court's median reflects the rulings it issued, so check the district page for the cases behind it.

Which districts approve the lowest rates?

N.D. New York ($350), E.D. New York ($400) and S.D. Texas ($425) approved the lowest median partner rates.

What do courts approve for associates and paralegals?

Associates: a median of $369 across 26 districts, highest in N.D. California ($601) and lowest in D. Maryland ($225).

Paralegals: a median of $150 across 27 districts, from $100 in E.D. New York to $250 in D. Oregon.

How often do courts cut the requested hourly rate?

In 17.4% of fee rulings that state both rates, the court approved less than the requested rate for at least one timekeeper.

How should you use these rates in a fee petition?

As a starting point for finding the rulings to cite, not as the authority itself.

• Cite rulings from your own district first. Courts set the prevailing rate by the market where the court sits, and most look to recent awards there.
• Match role and experience. A ruling approving $650 for a partner with 25 years of practice says little about a third-year associate.
• Prefer recent awards. Judges discount comparisons to rulings several years old, because rates move.
• Support the hours as well as the rate. Courts that accept your rate still cut hours that are block billed, vague, or reconstructed after the fact.

How does LegalTime help support a fee petition?

A court that approves your rate still multiplies it by the hours it accepts. The rulings behind these rates also cut hours for block billing, vague entries and time reconstructed after the fact. LegalTime records time as you work, one entry per task with a timestamp and a description of what was done, so the hours side of a fee petition holds up as well as the rate.

See how courts cut fees for bad time records

Methodology and sources

• Rates come from federal fee rulings published on GovInfo that state hourly rates, whether or not the court cut the fee.
• Each rate is checked against the opinion text: the dollar figure, the quoted passage, and the years of experience where given. Rates are recorded by role and experience, not by name, though the court's quoted words sometimes name the timekeeper.
• Approved means the rate the court approved or a magistrate judge recommended. Requested rates are shown beside them.
• Current medians use rulings from the last two years and need at least 5 rates for a role; the middle half is shown at 10 or more. Each district page also shows medians by year, so you can see how approved rates move.
• Statutory rates, such as Equal Access to Justice Act caps, are left out of the medians because they are not market rates. Rates a court took from a published matrix, such as the Laffey matrix, are included and marked. Bankruptcy courts are listed separately.

Limitations. Some federal districts publish few or no opinions to GovInfo, including the Southern District of New York, the Northern District of Illinois, the Middle District of Florida, the Eastern District of Virginia, the Western District of Washington and the District of Nevada. They are missing or thin here. Court-approved rates are not market billing rates, and a district median reflects the cases that court decided. LegalTime sells timekeeping software for law firms. The sections on LegalTime describe our own product; everything else comes from the court rulings.

Data: court-approved rates by district, CSV download (CC BY 4.0). Spot an error? Email team@legaltime.ai with the case name and we will correct it.

FAQ

What hourly rate do federal courts approve for partners?

A median of $500 an hour across 31 federal districts, in fee rulings from October 20, 2024 to October 20, 2026. District medians range from $350 (N.D. New York) to $829 (N.D. California).

Which federal district approves the highest attorney rates?

N.D. California, with a median approved partner rate of $829 an hour, followed by E.D. Pennsylvania ($750), S.D. California ($713) and D. New Jersey ($665).

What hourly rate do courts approve for paralegals?

A median of $150 an hour across 27 districts, from $100 in E.D. New York to $250 in D. Oregon.

How often do courts reduce a requested hourly rate?

Federal courts reduced at least one requested hourly rate in 17.4% of 906 fee rulings that state both the requested and approved rates (the last two years). When federal courts reduced a requested hourly rate, the median reduction was 27.7% (441 rates, the last two years).

Are court-approved rates the same as market billing rates?

No. They are the rates judges found reasonable on fee petitions, usually in fee-shifting cases. Courts tend to approve less than large firms bill, so treat them as a floor for what a court will accept, not a billing survey.

How often is this data updated?

Weekly. New federal rulings are collected from GovInfo every Monday, checked against the opinion text, and added to the tables and charts on this page.